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Penguin Talks
Penguin Talks, in partnership with Speakers for School, is a programme of free, creative talks for young people, giving them the opportunity to both hear from, and directly question, a world-renowned thinker, writer or influential figure from our family of authors.
The aim of Penguin Talks is to help equip young people for the future by introducing a new generation of readers to new ideas and perspectives, and broadening their understanding of issues which speakers feel to be particularly prevalent for this generation.
Previous Penguin Talks
In the inaugural Penguin Talk, in September 2018, Professor Yuval Noah Harari discussed the changes and decisions which will impact young people in the not-so-distant future.
In December 2018 and to mark the publication of her memoir, Becoming, Michelle Obama paid a special visit to students in Islington, London, to talk about empowerment through education and the importance of self-belief.
In May 2019, Scarlett Curtis, author of Feminists Don't Wear Pink, and actress Saoirse Ronan visited a Dublin school to discuss what being a feminist means and the power that young people have in the fight for gender equality.
Fresh from her joint Booker win in October 2019, Margaret Atwood and Ash Sarkar visited a college in Salford to discuss resistance, activism, and the literary legacy of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments.
In November 2019, Stormzy, international footballer Eniola Aluko, and #Merky Books authors Chelsea Kwakye, Ore Ogunbiyi and Derek Owusu visited Stormzy's old secondary school to talk about how to find your voice and use it.
In February 2020, Marie Forleo, entrepreneur and author of Everything is Figureoutable, and Cash Carraway, author of Skint Estate, visited a school in Oval, London to talk about success and failure, while trying to answer the question: can anyone be successful?
In October 2021, award-winning author Bernardine Evaristo visited her old secondary school Eltham Hill School to talk to students about her career and the importance of resilience. She was joined in conversation with Youtube visionary, education activist, and author of Empowered, Vee Kativhu.
In October 2021, author of This Can't be Happening, George Monbiot was joined in conversation with British documentary filmmaker and co-founder of the ‘Earthrise.studio’, Alice Aedy, at a school in Dagenham to speak to young people about the urgency of the climate crisis.
Books from Penguin Talks authors
See the impact
Education
Margaret Atwood joins teenagers to talk activism
School resources
Visit our Penguin Talks secondary teaching resources page